Well.. i don't see how there can be a comparison here. Ableton Live is geared more towards dance/electronic music and live performance. Cubase Pro is an all around player geared mainly towards larger productions, traditional composing,recording and mixing etc etc.
Simple examples should be:
Recording more than 1-2 people simultaneously with different monitoring options, or mixing a 100 ch project with multiple different takes that you have to comb in Live, can be a pain in the butt lol. In the same manner, laying down a remix with loop based material or playing live with Cubase can be equally a pain in the butt as well.
Btw, what is the best in cpu usage should be the last question to determine which DAW to buy mate. Because most of them are close and the differences are quite marginal atm. Pick whatever suits your mindset and workflow best my friend.
Cheers

 

I see a lot of smartass biased comments on here which are not needed.
I think you ask a fair question.
If I were you I'd go with Cubase because it's been on top of the game for a minute now.
HOWEVER, I've used Ableton for 3 years and it's my go-to DAW. I simply get inspired with all the max for live stuff, the built in synths and the clip view. It's very intuitive.
Cubase (for me) is more of a scientific mixing mastering tool with great headroom and an awesome mixer window. The routing capabilities in Cubase are also pretty great.

I'm honestly thinking of Buying Cubase myself for mixing and mastering only. I will still keep writing beats on Ableton, especially with Ableton 10 coming out.

 

You mean Cubase Elements with infinite tracks and bad midi?

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2018

Yea but if you buy 9.5 now you will have to pay for the next update. So wait for 10...or 10.5....or 11...

 

the idea makes me keen, but the money lol

 

wow much obliged, thats super interesting im taking a look on it

 

How much ram your computer has? Unless you have less than 4GB RAM, both is good. 8GB RAM ++ recommended. More relevant to worry about CPU usage when it comes to choosing your virtual instruments and effects, imho. Also consider your production styles and needs like others have mentioned, because both really works well and time-saving for particular production style.

 

If you go for cubase buy The artist or the pro version, the pro version is the best but is expensive so i start with elemnts for 10 dollars and later upgrade to artist and few months later to the pro. the best in midi and cpu is Cubase and you can convert the midi into audio so you save more cpu or you can freeze tracks. I don't really use the stock instruments but they are very good you get the halion se and groove se. other than that cubase is really good for mixing and with 16 inserts xf.

 

wow i didnt know that, the pro version differs how much from the other two versions?

 

i found cubase elements 9.5 complete i dont know if its worth but

 

Cubase.
But it's all preference, taste, workflow, knowing your DAW, etc.

 

Good point. There's a Cubase version comparision and pricing table here

For Ableton Live it's better if you buy 9 since it has a 20% discount and offers a free upgrade to Live 10 instead of going for a Live 10 pre-order. Version comparision and pricing table here

20% is a significant discount. You can spend it on a plug-in, for instance. You can also buy a bottle of Jack Daniels ;)

Also, something to take in mind that nobody mentioned and I feel like it's important. Ableton Live, even Live 10, as of today, doesn't support VST3. This can be a pain in the ass if you plan on using stuff from Antares since their latest stuff is VST3 only.
Also, if you're working on a big ass screen, some VST2.4 plug-ins don't offer re-sizeable interfaces so this can be really annoying.
This can change in the near future and usually, Ableton's updates are free. Although when there some "major" updates in minor version updates, they usually charge for them like when they released the "enhanced" Simpler device.
On the other hand, Cubase updates usually are all paid. But most of the time, when they update something, they add something of value so...

And I think we've pretty much covered it all. But, like I've said before, there's nothing like installing the trial versions and give them both a test ride.

 

Last edited: Jan 13, 2018

Both arstist and elements have some limitations you can go to the Steinberg site and check about the 3 versions. if u are a student is best to start with elements and if own ur studio is best arstist or the pro. Most of the times you have to pay for updates for cubase. Sometimes you get the update free. I get the version pro 9 and the version 9.5 update was free.

 

yeah im already trying ableton and downloading cubase next to try

 

yeah i took a look and it looks like elements has less midi tracks and less plugins and such, and the sidechain compression mthod aswell if im not wrong

 

Hi,
it is quite common to ask a question like this. Every DAW has a different approach, different functions and thus different possibilities. You should thoroughly test as many as possible for as much time as possible. Live has some advantages, when it comes to live playing, sample treatment and most of all it has the Push2 controller. If you tend to make music in electronic or sample based direction, it is seriously to consider. You can extend the Live functions with Max for Live plugins. Unfortunately to get all functions you will have to buy Live Suite, that is quite expensive.
If you want a classic DAW to work with audio and MIDI, mixing and mastering, I think, Reaper is quite unbeatable in many aspects. At first sight Reaper may look a bit outdated ( and I know for sure that appearance has a lot to do with convenient working), but it is the DAW that you can configure in nearly any aspect: themes (skins), scripts, extensions and so on. Besides that, Reaper has a very agile community and nearly everything is free, the DAW itself comes for a ridiculous low price.
The more you work with Reaper, the more you will like it.